


Life Begins Again

by DayOfTheBethan



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Feelings, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-14 09:59:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10534140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayOfTheBethan/pseuds/DayOfTheBethan
Summary: The Moment, feelings before, and what happens after.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the majority of this before I actually watched the episode, based entirely on gifs I saw of The Moment. I needed to tweak very little after I watched it. Before the first break, italics are James, normal font is Thomas.
> 
> It hasn't been beta read, and only vaguely checked for spelling mistakes, etc!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!

Thomas is long used to the toil of the plantation now – six years of hard work will do that to a man. He's heard rumours of uprisings in Nassau, a pirate rebellion, the British – something which still sets his heart racing, all these years later. The rumours don't mean anything to him. The land, the work, his fellow labourers. That's all he thinks of. All he lets himself think of.

_Flint starts the journey from Skeleton Island a mixture of seething and the tiniest, faintest flicker of hope. The shackles are tight and uncomfortable, and had made the trek back through the forest harder than it needed to be, but he understands the need for the ruse. As the days pass, he feels the fight draining from him. Even if Silver is wrong, he can't carry on. He slowly chips away Captain Flint, and draws the mantle of James Mcgraw back around himself. He will not be bothered by the sea any longer. Flint is gone, and that's all he thinks of. All he lets himself think of._

The day starts like every other, with food enough to keep body and soul together and more besides, a thousand times better than what he'd been given in Bedlam. Then it was out to work in the fields, sweat running into his eyes and his beard. He's vaguely aware of a commotion at the end of the field, but pays it no attention until he hears the unlocking of shackles, a sound he's unfortunately too familiar with. And he looks up.

_James doesn't let himself hope even as he walks through the wooden doors of the plantation. It's too much to dare to dream, he's been let down by so much so many times before. He sees workers in the fields they pass and none of them look familiar, although all look at him with a mix of awe and pity. The small group stops at the edge of one field, nothing to pick it apart from the rest, and the plantation owner starts to unlock James' shackles. And he looks up._

And his world narrows.

_And his world narrows._

All he can see...

_All he wants to see..._

James.

_Thomas._

The slow walk across the field is almost worse than the years they'd spent apart, but finally they are together, hands cupping heads and lips touching, a desperate murmuring of names and tears rolling down their faces as they laugh at the impossibility of it all. Curled into each other, the other men are invisible, they don't exist, it's just the two of them in the field with the sun beating down on their shoulders. James eventually pulls away and rests his forehead on Thomas's and closes his eyes for a moment before pulling away a little. He goes to speak, but Thomas shushes him.

“We can speak later. What's happening now?”

James laughs a little. “A week. Silver promised a week, and then someone would come and we'll be free.”

“Do you trust this Silver?”

“He brought me back to you.” James says simply, and there is no more that needs saying. “A week. Is that okay?”

“I've waited 12 years for this. A week is nothing.” Thomas finally looks away from James, at the other men studiously digging their seeds and pretending nothing is happening. “New men get the first day to settle, and someone is tasked with showing them where to go. I'm assuming that's me.” Thomas glances up at the plantation owner, still stood at the edge of the field. He nods and jerks his head to tell them they're allowed to go, and Thomas turns and leads James away with a hand on his arm.

____________________________________________________________________________

They talk about Miranda on the third day. James may have been used to hard work at sea, but land labour is a very different beast, and not one he is used to. Hard conversations come easier when there's something to distract.

"This reminds me of Miranda."

There is a resounding silence. James looks at him under his arm, takes a deep breath and forces himself to carry on.

"The house we had, on Nassau, had a garden. After months at sea I'd be begging for fresh food, and it was a good source of income. She became a good cook." Thomas snorts a little at this - Miranda had once tried to help make dinner. It hadn't gone well at all.

"There were all these rumours about her. That much didn't change. A particular favourite is she kept my heart in a chest under the bed, and controlled the devil of the sea."

"Is that what they called you?" Thomas breaks his silence to ask in disbelief. 

"Some of them did. Others were too scared." James looks back at Thomas with a small smile. "Flint was a terrible man. Miranda tempered that."

"She's dead. Isn't she?" Thomas ask quietly, voice breaking.

James nods. "We went to Peter. Abigail had been captured by a pirate crew on her passage over, and we took her home. Miranda saw a clock-"

"The one from our hallway." 

"How...?"

"He came to see me, in Bedlam. Insinuated that he was behind it all. At that point I...all is wanted to do was die."

James vents his anger on the ground, stabbing his hoe into the soil like he's stabbing Peter bloody Ashe all over again. "He told us you killed yourself."

This time its Thomas who stabs the ground only to leave his hoe standing and take James in his arms. “Peter Ashe is not worth your hatred. You stayed with Miranda, you protected her. His cowardice is what killed her. I accepted you were both dead a long time ago. I mourned you. Now my heart is full again.” James marvels at the fact that even after all these years, Thomas can cut straight to the heart of his worries. The pain of losing Miranda will always be there, but here, with Thomas, it ebbs and flows like the tide, and soon enough it will calm like the doldrums.

_____________________________________________________________________________  
Silver is as good as his word, and exactly a week later, a chest arrives with a letter. The chest has enough money to pay for labour and for the passage of two souls from the stone cells of Bedlam to the clear skies of the plantation to make up for the loss of workers. The letter contains the authority of the governor of New Providence Island, and details of a ship waiting at a port two days hence that it is in need of a captain to deliver it to Florida where it has been commissioned as a cargo ship

And so it happens that six years after the gates first opened in front of him, Thomas walks out of them with a man he never thought he'd see again by his side.

_And so it happens that James steps onto a ship waiting to accept him as captain with a man he never thought he'd see again by his side._

_**And so it happens that James Mcgraw and Thomas Hamilton walk into a small stone house together, ready to live again.** _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops? I wasn't going to write any more, but then I wanted Madi and James to meet again, and Silver and Thomas and so...this happened. 
> 
> Again, any and all errors are my own, and kudos and comments are appreciated - a massive thank you to those who have already left them!

Life begins again with soft touches and gentle kisses, learning and relearning each others bodies and the changes the years have wrought. They both have new scars, telling tales that come spilling out at night in the dark, when neither of them can sleep for fear of waking up and finding out it was all a dream. 

It begins with digging out a patch for a vegetable garden, and venturing into a nearby market to buy seeds and supplies to last them a while. They are both used to hard work, and soon have a working plot, and even have two chickens. James sometimes sits and wonders how he ended up with this life. How he ended up living.

It begins with the two lying together on a bed, Thomas carding his hand through James' slowly growing hair - although he threatens to shave it off every time he finds a new grey hair. They are both more tactile than before, running a hand across a shoulder, leaning into a stroke of the cheek as one passes behind the other. Thomas sometimes sits and wonders at how his life has changed so much.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas is tending the garden as James basks in the sunlight - Thomas has occasionally accused him of being a cat, leaning into touches and finding any patch of sunlight he can. The peace doesn't last long as the sound of a cart reaches their ears. They look at each other in confusion for a moment before James gets up and starts muttering about fetching his sword, but Thomas stops him with a hand. 

"They could be friends." James looks at him sceptically, but stays where he is.

They wait anxiously, too aware of what it could be to relax. The cart rounds the corner, and James relaxes even more. The curly hair is the same, and he can see the tip of the crutch next to John Silver on the bench, in between him and Madi.

"The shit." James says in wonder as the cart slows and Silver swings out, still as nimble on the crutch as that day in the forest. Thomas's brow is furrowed in confusion, and James takes pity.

"Thomas Hamilton, meet Long John Silver.”

Thomas quirks an eyebrow. "Pleasure."

"The feeling's mutual.”

Silver is struck by the change in James. He is relaxed and loose, and has possibly smiled more in the five minutes they'd been there than in the year and a bit they'd fought together. His shoulders are still broad, but his gut has expanded a little. Thomas is a study in opposites – lean and wiry, with blonde hair and an elegant posture that speaks of a good upbringing. 

As Silver and Thomas get acquainted, Madi and James take a few steps to the side.

“It is good to see you again.” Madi admits. “When he told the camp he had killed you, I raged. When he admitted the truth to me, I felt betrayed. How dare he sentence you to such a fate...it wasn't until he made the decision to come here that he told me how he arranged for you to leave. I didn't believe him, until now.”

“I wanted to say goodbye. But when he told me about Thomas, and the plan, and that I had to go then or not at all, I knew I didn't have a choice. You know what it's like, to lose the man you love, and then to find he's alive.”

Madi nods. “He's a good man, at his heart.”

“He is. But...why are you here?” 

Madi glances at Silver. “Better for him to tell it.” She takes a step towards the other two, who break their conversation and look at her. Silver takes a deep breath and nods, and James motions them towards the porch. There are only three chairs there, and James leans on the frame, arms crossed, and waits for Silver to explain, ready to call him out on any bullshit he tried to say.

“It's time for Long John Silver to go the same way as Captain Flint.” Silver starts, and James can tell he's in earnest. “Jack was caught by the British a few months ago in Port Royal. He was the last of us. He was the best of us, at the end.”

James lets out a sigh. He and Jack would never have called themselves friends, but they had fought together, and that forms a bond stronger than most. “So you're giving up?”

Silver takes offence at that. “No. I'm taking the easy way out, before Nassau comes to the attention of the British again and they decide the way to go is to get rid of the last person who fought with Captain Flint.”

“The British have failed in every attempt to retake Nassau.” Thomas notes quietly. “What makes you think they'd succeed in another one?”

“We don't have the strength, or the numbers, or anyone with a will strong enough to keep going.” Silver levels a look at James, who is unimpressed. 

“So you're giving up on Nassau.”

“Yes.” Silver isn't shaken. “Nassau was never a dream for me. It was somewhere to make port, but it's nearing its end. There is no point in labouring on for something that will never happen. I know you will never agree, but it's the truth.”

James sighs again and decides to concede the point. He's tired of fighting. “But that doesn't explain why you're _here_.”

This time it's Madi who talks. “My mother died two years ago. The camp has a new leader. John wants to leave, and I will go where he does.”

“Your mother was a good woman. I'm sorry.” Madi acknowledges the platitude with a nod. “Where are you headed?”

“Bristol.”

“Bristol? Why would you want to go _there_?” Thomas sounds so horrified at the thought that James has to laugh.

“Not everyone hates Bristol like you do, my love.”

“Well they should.” he grumbles. “It's a grey, miserable place with nothing to recommend it.”

“Your Lord is showing. Just because you got lost there once doesn't mean it's horrible. I found it to be perfectly pleasant.”

“Hmm.” Thomas descends into inaudible grumbles about the terribleness of Bristol, and Silver looks between the two with a grin, unable to reconcile this James with the Flint he knew, yet knowing he must have been there the whole time, hiding beneath the rage and the guilt.

“You can stay here for a few days, if you wish. We have food and space enough.” James offers, eventually remembering his manners. Silver nods and smirks a little, and James wonders in the back of his mind why he offered at all.

Two days later, he can't wait to see the back of the man. Two days in close quarters had been almost as bad as on the Walrus. Silver and Thomas had quickly discovered a lot in common, and it was more often than not that James found them swapping stories – about him. He tried to outdo them, but was shouted down by one or the other.

“Not now love, he's telling me about the shark you killed together.”

“Not now, he's telling me about when you met.”  
That last one backfired spectacularly, with James taking the opportunity to describe Thomas's long grey wig in precise detail, leaving Silver unable to breathe from laughter, and Thomas himself bright red and glowering.

“He's a good man.” Thomas remarks as they watch the cart drive away. “And Madi is a good woman. I'm glad you had friends like those.”

“Madi deserves better than him.” James grouses, but eventually agrees. He turns to Thomas and presses a hand to his cheek. “I'm sorry you didn't have anyone.”

Thomas shakes his head and places a hand on the others cheek,. “I'm glad I didn't. I wouldn't want friends to go through what I did.” James closes his eyes and leans into the touch.

“You're here now. And I think after the last two days, you can call Silver and Madi friends too.”

Thomas laughs. “I think I can.” He leans down to kiss James, and the sun sets on the two curled around each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about Jack :(


End file.
